Tuesday, January 6, 2009

I've been enjoying puppodums at Indian restaurants for a long time but I never knew exactly how many calories they had, or if I could enjoy them at home. In case you've never had one, a puppodum is a delicious thin, crispy, puffy, and sometimes spicy cracker often served as an appetizer before an Indian meal (I took a picture of one to the left so you could see what one looks like cooked).

I found some yummy looking puppodums at Whole Foods a few weeks ago that are made by a company called Tiger Tiger. I was thrilled to see that 2 packaged puppodums were only 47 calories, 0 grams of fat, and 3 grams of fiber (so 0 weight watchers points!). I decided to buy them to see how they would taste cooked without oil (sadly if you eat them at a restaurant you'll have to factor in additional calories for oil).

After experimenting around cooking them in a pan with just a little bit of Pam spray (which turned out delicious), I realized that I could cook the puppodums oil-free in the microwave for 45 seconds and that they would still come out perfectly crispy, delicious, and still only 24 calories each! Definitely a new-found favorite snack for me!

There are many different versions of puppodums you can get i.e. made with rice flour, lentils and even cassava / yam. Frying is the thing that most restaurants do, but at home we normally dry roast them on the gas directly (use tongs to turn ever second or so) or like you did in the microwave. They are a great snack to have. Try an Indian grocery to get the various different flavours and types of puppodums.

I found the plain puppodums at Cost Plus World Market for $2.99 a box. they are a real fine for me since I am gluten free. I sprinkle a little tumeric or curry powder on the plain ones and microwave. yumm.

About Yummy Diet Food

Hello. My name is Juliet and I live in the Bay Area. I love food! I am also both weight and health conscious, and I don't like to eat foods full of unhealthy ingredients (especially the ones targeted at dieters these days). So, I created Yummy Diet Food for people like me who are looking for low calorie foods that are both healthy and delicious (meaning *no* artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup or sugar alcohols). Learn More >

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About Me

Hello. My name is Juliet. I live in Northern California, the Bay Area. I love food! But, I am health conscious and I try to follow the Weight Watchers plan while simultaneously eating really healthy, yummy, "better-for-me" low calorie foods!

By the way -- healthy to me means: (1) No High Fructose Corn Syrup (2) No Hydrogenated Oils (3) No Artificial Sweeteners, and (4) No Sugar Alcohols. Learn More....

Lastly, I don't eat a lot of meat, so this is a vegetarian friendly blog.